This is a book that grips you and won't let go. I sat and read it from cover to cover without a single break and even a couple of hours later it still haunted me. You would think that some 70+ years on from World War II we would become innured to the tragedies that befell the Human Race at the time but this novel brings this home to us.
Never forget that this is, first and foremost, a novel. Based upon the life of Lale and Gita Sokolov it is only based on their experiences in Birkenau and it never purports to be a true retelling of their story.
The brutality of the camps is set against the basic need for Human colseness and shows how love can flourish in even the most dire circumstances. Circumstances that none of us, in the "First World" can turely begin to imagine. This novel gives only a glimpse of that world but a glimpse is all we need, the desperation seeps off the page.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would recommend it wholeheartedly.
Never forget that this is, first and foremost, a novel. Based upon the life of Lale and Gita Sokolov it is only based on their experiences in Birkenau and it never purports to be a true retelling of their story.
The brutality of the camps is set against the basic need for Human colseness and shows how love can flourish in even the most dire circumstances. Circumstances that none of us, in the "First World" can turely begin to imagine. This novel gives only a glimpse of that world but a glimpse is all we need, the desperation seeps off the page.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would recommend it wholeheartedly.